and a ho, ho, ho to you

for the past week or so, i've been in the midst of decorating the house for christmas. it's the first time i've felt like making any attempt at holiday decorating that evenly closely approximates how i used to decorate. that was an activity of martha stewart-like proportions. fortunately, i've scaled back quite a bit, but it's still taking some time to get the house the way i'd like it.

one of my annual christmas traditions is that i collect santas. i get them in a variety of forms, but i consistently order at least one type of particular type of santa statue from a specific high end retailer every year. each has some associated theme with it. there's highland fling santa, aspen santa, venetian santa, emperor napoleon santa, and so on.

i used to have many more than i do today, but i left quite a few behind at my ex's house, and my understanding is they now are for sale at the local goodwill, following his having the basement cleared out in preparation for putting the house up for sale earlier this year. it's my own fault really as, in the throes of my deep depression, i told him just to keep the stuff an do whatever he wanted with what i left behind. now that the clouds of depression have dissipated to a great extent, i definitely regret that decision, but it is what it is.

i guess my affinity for santas comes from the fact that i find this particular symbol of the holiday season to be one of the most endearing. the memories of waiting for santa are still palpable today, hoping i made the nice list once again and would get whatever i desired from the endless toy and game commercials that littered the airways then between thanksgiving and christmas. it's also fun to think about how many children over the decades since have engaged in that same tradition and how many are now waiting for that jolly fellow in the reindeer propelled sleigh to pay them a visit and leave loads and loads of brightly wrapped packages.

today's song is about that building anticipation of christmas day. it's one of those bouncy, jazzy, modern christmas classics that interestingly enough isn't performed that often of late. well, i am very glad this particular artist has performed it because she's one of my favorites and as always she does a truly great job with it.

the man with the bag - jane monheit from the season

speaking of charlie brown

i guess it's pretty obvious from the title of this morning's entry that i'm a fan of a charlie brown christmas. well, truth be told, it happens to be my favorite christmas special of all time.

this year is the 50th anniversary of the first telecast of this christmas classic. it's kind of cool to be the same age as your favorite christmas show.

anyway, one of the aspects that makes a charlie brown christmas so special is the wonderful soundtrack filled with the music of jazz impresario vince guaraldi. here's two of the most popular songs from it, and for those of you in the u.s., i defy you to listen to these songs and not think about your christmas as a child. i hope the memories are good ones that bring at least a little bit of joy to your heart.

oh, by the way, a charlie brown christmas has a repeat airing on december 24, so check your local listings for channels and times.

christmas time is here

linus and lucy

-vince guaraldi trio both from the album a charlie brown christmas

and that's what christmas is all about charlie brown

christmas can mean a lot of things to those of us who celebrate it. it can be a time for the gathering together of people we love. it can be a time for shopping and gift giving for those specials someones. it can be baking cookies, sending christmas cards, decorating mantels and trees and doorposts with green and red and silver and gold (and even blue, brown, and purple). it can be watching wide-eyed children looking out for santa on christmas eve. and it can be the celebration of the birth of jesus christ, a cause for great joy to millions around the world.

even though my own spiritual journey has led me to this time in my life where i engage to a very limited degree in organized religion, i still believe in and treasure the story of the child born in a manager, who would grow up, live, die and live again so that we may know and live in the truth of our great worth as children of god.

this story that has been shared for over 2,000 years has long inspired my approach to this holiday. in that small town in bethlehem god lavished upon us this extraordinary gift as a sign of his incomparable love for us. as such, because of this extravagant gesture, i believe we should give and love extravagantly at this time of year.

the song i'm sharing this morning is a lush medley filled with wonderful imagery that harkens to the christmas story. i hope the thought of god with us inspires that spirit of giving and loving extravagantly in you.

sing we now of christmas/o come, o come emmanuel/emmanuel medley - michael w. smith from christmastime

it's time for an xtina xmas

time to get those hips a swayin', those shoulders a movin' and those hands a clappin' (and if you're really feeling brave, get on up and really shake your thang).

christmas time - christina aguilera from christmas

indeed it is

so i've started compiling a list of potential holiday season songs to share over the course of this month. as i've done so, it's quickly becoming apparent that if i want to get through all of them, i'm going to need to start at least doubling up on songs shared each day.

with this plan in mind, some days i will do a morning and an evening entry. other days, there may be two songs shared in one post. today will be an example of the former approach.

the song i'm sharing in this first of two entries today was a no brainer as to the need to post it here. it's probably in my top three of all holiday songs, and, in fact, i'm surprised it's taken me this long to post. each time i hear this song, it brings a smile to my face and a lightness to my heart, so having this among my selections was easy. the slightly more difficult choice, given the large number of wonderful performances of the song (it seems to be a staple of the christmas album genre), was which rendition to share.

it came down to two choices, the person who first popularized the song and the one who popularized it for me. i chose the latter artist because she is the one who introduced me to this song. the fact that she is one of my all time favorite singers didn't hurt either (and believe me this will not be the last song you hear from her this month).

it's the most wonderful time of the year - amy grant from home for christmas

yes we do!

so here's a cheerful and energetic holiday song. the interesting thing about this song, and a fact that is not readily known by many people in this day and age, is that the song originates from the broadway musical mame. here's what wikipedia tells us about the song's context in the show:

"We Need a Little Christmas" is a popular Christmas song originating from Jerry Herman's Broadway musical, Mame, and first performed by Angela Lansbury in that 1966 production.^[1]
In the musical, the song is performed after Mame has lost her fortune in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and decides that she, her young nephew Patrick, and her two household servants "need a little Christmas now" to cheer them up.^[2] The original lyrics include the line, "But, Auntie Mame, it's one week past Thanksgiving Day now!" Since the time the song was written the phenomenon of Christmas creep has resulted in the normal holiday season beginning much earlier than it once did, which has led to more recent recordings changing the line to, "But, Auntie Mame, it's one week from Thanksgiving Day now!"

i mention this little factoid because often the line sung by patrick is left out of many modern recordings of this song. well, i've picked a version that has left it intact (and the original lyric to boot). enjoy!

we need a little christmas - the cast of glee from glee: the music, a christmas album

more on angels

i always enjoy when traditional christmas carols are approached in a new way. i'm sure i will be sharing many of that type over the course of this month (as well as those of the commonly performed type).

it's difficult for me to believe that this rendition is fifteen years old. it seems like only yesterday that i picked this album off the shelves during what i'm sure was a frenzied bout of holiday shopping. how time flies by (whether you're having fun or not).

the angels medley -- avalon from the album joy